BIOSOCIAL FACTORS IN EARLY INFANCY AS PREDICTORS OF COMPETENCE IN ADOLESCENTS WHO WERE BORN PREMATURELY

In a prospective longitudinal study of a cohort of 105 subjects born p rematurely, competence was assessed from infancy through late adolesce nce. A biosocial model guided the research. Neonatal neurobehavioral o rganization (a composite of term visual attention, amount of time in a ctive sleep, and 407 EEG pattern) and early social stimulation (the am ount of talking the mother addressed to the infant during a home obser vation when the infant was 1 month old) in conjunction with social cla ss were used to predict competence at key age periods through late ado lescence. Intellectual competence, school achievement, social competen ce, and self perception of cognitive competence were studied. The resu lts indicate that measures taken in the early infancy period were pred ictive of later competence, particularly intellectual competence, abov e and beyond social class. Twenty-eight percent of the variance in 18- year IQ scores was explained by the predictor variables. The study hig hlights the importance of directing efforts to improve the social envi ronment of both the infant and the family.